Cal Poly, UC Davis to join Big Sky Conference

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/07/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The much-rumored talk of the Big Sky Conference losing the University of Montana, and perhaps other schools, took on another twist Tuesday.

Big Sky football is expanding.

One of the top conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision, the Big Sky announced that UC Davis and Cal Poly have accepted invitations to become affiliate members in football only, bringing the membership up to 11 teams. A timeline for the switch was not announced, but the move seems feasible for the 2012 season.

UC Davis and Cal Poly have the strongest programs in the five-school Great West Football Conference, which will have to seek new membership or, more likely, fall apart. The majority of UC Davis and Cal Poly teams compete in the Big West Conference.

"The Big Sky is recognized as one of the top Football Championship Subdivision conferences in the nation," Big Sky Conference commissioner Doug Fullerton said in a statement. "The addition of two great institutions like Cal Poly and UC Davis gives us more depth to compete for additional playoff berths and enhances our profile throughout California. This is a great fit for both institutions and the Big Sky Conference. We are bringing in two strong western FCS programs. They will benefit from us in having access to an automatic playoff bid and a full slate of conference games.

"We worked in cooperation with Big West Conference commissioner Dennis Farrell," Fullerton added. "The Big West fully supports this effort, as it gives its two football-playing members a home."

UC Davis and Cal Poly will have to adhere to the withdrawal procedure of the Great West - a process which could take a year. Most of the Big Sky schools have nine or 10 games scheduled for 2011, but the change could happen in 2012.

UC Davis and Cal Poly, which were Division II powers before moving up to Division I, would join Sacramento State as Big Sky programs in California, where high school talent is rich. Both schools have excellent facilities and fan bases.

Cal Poly, whose head coach, Tim Walsh, coached Big Sky member Portland State from 1993-2006, won the Great West championship in 2008, and UC Davis captured it last year. In 2009, UC Davis averaged 9,908 fans for five home games and Cal Poly averaged 9,588 for five home games, which would have ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, among Big Sky programs.

"This is an extremely exciting day for our football program and the institution," UC Davis athletic director Greg Warzecka said. "Our fans will not only be able to watch some great teams come to Aggie Stadium, but they will have a much better opportunity to travel to road games."

"Our goal all along has been to find stability for our football program, and the Big Sky Conference gives us exactly what we needed," Cal Poly athletic director Alison Cone said. "The Big Sky Conference is one of the best FCS conferences in the country and offers great competition with teams that are natural rivals in our region."

Fullerton said the Big Sky will seek future expansion to create a 12-team football conference which would split into two six-team divisions.

The announcement comes during a week in which Cal Poly will host top-ranked Montana and UC Davis will host Portland State.

The nine Big Sky programs in 2009 are Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State and Weber State.

Besides UC Davis and Cal Poly, the Great West's members are North Dakota, South Dakota and Southern Utah. The latter three programs could be expansion possibilities for the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which has nine programs.

Wwwdmtc NCAA Football Betting News

<< Montero helping Sounders FC across the river
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a record of 12-7-11, a playoff spot as the Western Conference's No. 3 seed, a U.S. Open Cup Championship, and almost half-a- million in paid attendance, Seattle Sounders FC was coming off one of the most successf

<< Devils, Kovalchuk finally seal the deal
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It was anything but a smooth process, but Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils were finally able to consummate their long summer courtship in the early morning hours this past Saturday. Two months afte

<< Dolphins GM Ireland takes over full club operations
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins have announced that general manager Jeff Ireland will assume full control over all aspects of the football team and support staff, effective immediately. Bill Parcells, who had be

<< Former UCLA stars ready to shine
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Labor Day has passed, the kids are back in school and the leaves will soon begin to fall here in the northeast. That means the calendar has flipped to September and most of America is gearing up for footba

<< Youzhny reaches Open quarters
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former semifinalist Mikhail Youzhny was a fourth-round winner Tuesday at the 2010 U.S. Open. The 12th-seeded Youzhny handled former top-10 Spaniard Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at the USTA Billie J

Magic name Foyle to front office position >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic on Tuesday named former NBA player Adonal Foyle as the team's director of player development. The 35-year-old Foyle retired in August following a 13-year career. He was originally selec

Orioles activate P Hernandez >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles have reinstated pitcher David Hernandez from the 15-day disabled list. He was placed on the DL August 5 with a left ankle sprain. The right-hander is 4-3 with two saves and a 3.29 e

Former two-year-old champ retired >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Every year following the running of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile the winner of the race is automatically declared the early favorite for the next year's Kentucky Derby. Street Sense is the only thoroug

White Sox recall Viciedo and Torres >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White recalled infielder Dayan Viciedo and pitcher Carlos Torres from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday. Viciedo, 21, appeared in 27 games earlier this season with the major league club and hit

Habs ink Halpern >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens have signed veteran forward Jeff Halpern to a one-year contract. As per team policy, no terms of the deal were announced. The 34-year-old Halpern split last season betwe

Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.